[whompuscat658]

I have decided to keep a fishing log regarding my walleye exploits. Maybe it will expand into other fronts for me but as of right now I am concentrated on walleye and dont fish anything else consistent enough to really bother with it. is this something that you have done before? basically i want to learn as much as I can about walleye fishing, specifically in our local reservoirs. Fishing is about increasing your odds of success and I feel creating a log would help me do that by identifying patterns. Plus i like breaking things down into a science as much as possible and I think it will be fun. I plan on keeping track of a bunch of different factors including-

1. current moon phase
2. different weather data such as temp,humidity,cloud cover,wind and more
3. lures that worked (maybe what didnt work as well)
4. retrieves that worked (maybe what didnt work as well)
5. when I fished
6. where I fished
7. how long I fished
8. how many fish caught, size

As far as relevant data, I feel like that should help me cover most of my bases. Is there anything else I should include? I feel like this will be a cool undertaking and down the road I will be able to look back and see everything i did.

 

[aofisher]

I keep a fishing calendar on an Excel tab that also serves as a fishing budget, which in turn rolls into my annual and, ultimately, long-term budget. I don't put down that much detail. "Good enough" is, well, good enough for me. I don't take my fishing too seriously.

 

[DoctorDooom]

I don't catch enough fish to write it down. I can keep em in my head

 

[whompuscat658]

I keep a fishing calendar on an Excel tab that also serves as a fishing budget, which in turn rolls into my annual and, ultimately, long-term budget. I don't put down that much detail. "Good enough" is, well, good enough for me. I don't take my fishing too seriously.

I feel ya. I think it'll be fun more than anything but at the same time maybe I can learn something

 

[Dakota]

There are plenty of apps out there for that. It makes it a little more convenient. I generally let my photo album on my phone tell me when to fish where.

 

[whompuscat658]

I don't take my fishing too seriously.

Lol. Good one

 

[snagged up]

I fish for fun. It is labor intensive enough launching and taking care of a boat and gear.

 

[aofisher]

Lol. Good one

I don't. I take my budget a lot more seriously. And I don't even take taht all seriously either. I probably don't look at that budget more than once a week. Certainly not a daily occurrence. I keep a fishing log as part of the budget, not vice versa. I don't work to fish. Sad to say but I have been faking this passion for fishing all this time. :'D

 

[aofisher]

I fish for fun. It is labor intensive enough launching and taking care of a boat and gear.

Yeah, it was way too much work for me. I especially hated putting the boat away in the garage. Maybe because it didn't fit straight in, so I had to manually maneuver it by hand to fit it in sideways. I just want to get out there, soak in nature and go home. :hippie:

 

[jackd1964]

I also use a temp reader. You drop it down in the water and bring up. It shows you your depth from top to bottom.

I find you find the right depth and here its normally around the thermo cline. Each fish like different temps. Then I fish that depth. You will find most fish and bigger fish in that temp. Although fish go where the food is so may roam from prefered temps.

I put that in my log also. Each year the temps change so I try to follow that more then the time of the year . Although I catch most of my big fish during the full moon thats the only phase I keep track of.

It makes it easier to decide what part of the lake to fish. Also what depth that SHOULD be most productive.

Its good to know im not the only one putting the boat in the garage side ways. I may have bought a new boat with a removable tongue. Im going to have to do that also to fit the boat in the garage.

When we make the move to colorado Ill look for a garage big enough to just back in.

 

[Fordo]

Winter of 2012/13 I didn't have any projects for work so i fished GM pretty much 4 days a week. I kept logs with the info you have listed and took lots of pictures of the fish. My wife thought i was crazy and called me a fish geek. after that I felt like i beat my head against a brick wall trying to show the state why protecting the big macs at GM was a great idea. Still no protection and big lakers get killed all the time.
As far as your log, Water level is a huge one to always pay attention to I don't see on your list. You might also also keep notes about anything you observed that day, maybe make notes on info someone tells you, asking questions to people and being friendly with them is a great way to get more info and put more pieces of the puzzle together. Good job and Good luck!

 

[whompuscat658]

I don't. I take my budget a lot more seriously. And I don't even take taht all seriously either. I probably don't look at that budget more than once a week. Certainly not a daily occurrence. I keep a fishing log as part of the budget, not vice versa. I don't work to fish. Sad to say but I have been faking this passion for fishing all this time. :'D

Riiiigggghhhtttt.....(in dr.evils voice)

 

[whompuscat658]

Winter of 2012/13 I didn't have any projects for work so i fished GM pretty much 4 days a week. I kept logs with the info you have listed and took lots of pictures of the fish. My wife thought i was crazy and called me a fish geek. after that I felt like i beat my head against a brick wall trying to show the state why protecting the big macs at GM was a great idea. Still no protection and big lakers get killed all the time.
As far as your log, Water level is a huge one to always pay attention to I don't see on your list. You might also also keep notes about anything you observed that day, maybe make notes on info someone tells you, asking questions to people and being friendly with them is a great way to get more info and put more pieces of the puzzle together. Good job and Good luck!

Great info. Thanks.

 

[walleye seeker]

I did for years, and found it didn't matter, I just fished when I had time and now I only fish one lake and find that depth of fish is most important and knowledge on what works and when. some fish are feeding 24 hours a day some where every day. if you want more fish per day, fish in spring after the spawn if you just want to get out fish in late summer if you don't mind cold fish till the end of December take jan & feb off and start again in late mar.

 

[rivrunnr1]

I used to have a great one. Logged about 300 trips and did some statistics charts/calculations/data analyst work with it and found pretty much ZERO correlation with any of it. I believe that you'd need a huge population of data in order to come to any conclusions. Upwards of 15-20 thousand trips worth of data. I think there was a bass fisherman in TX that kept track of about 7000 trips or something like that....and found a little bit of correlation with catching big fish during the major and minor periods of the daily moon phases.

 

[dallasdb]

Trying to find correlation with my fishing log...

 

[CWB]

May I ask a question about your finding in your moon phase data. I use to fish for Large mouth Bass in Texas. We would fish Toledo Bend and lake fork. We would fish 4 days before the full moon, and fish for 4 nights. We would always catch fish. We would always fish flooded timber , Using 6" Black "Cream" Scoundrel worm. Does your moon Phase data match fishing 3 days before a full moon?. I never kept a log But when your constantly catching 4 to 12 lbs bass why bother. A old fisherman once told me to watch the Cows as you head to the lake if the cows are up and eating the fish will be biting Thanks

 

[dallasdb]

A old fisherman once told me to watch the Cows as you head to the lake if the cows are up and eating the fish will be biting Thanks

This is very interesting... I wonder if it's an old angler's superstition or has some truth to it!

 

[TthePikester]

This is very interesting... I wonder if it's an old angler's superstition or has some truth to it!

If the cattle are up and feeding that means fair/good weather and optimal barometric pressures, while if they are laying down huddled together usually means windy/cold weather on the way with non-optimal barometric pressures. We also use to base our fishing day on the amount of wild game we saw on the way to the lake as in deer, elk, buffalo and yotes. If we didn't see even a hawk the day always sucked, the more we saw the better the day we had!

Growing up fishing with my grandfather he would always fish 3 day before and 3 days after a full moon and a new moon phase, never on the night of either. We would drive all the way to Lake John 3 days before, load up on the day before the full/new moon for home then return to the lake the day after full/new phase. He could catch a fish in a bathtub but never on the full/new phase!